Filipino bomb-maker Basit Usman, the target of a massive government dragnet since the January 25 Mamasapano mission where he escaped as police commandos were closing in on Malaysian terrorist Marwan, was killed before noon Sunday, according to reliable military intelligence sources.

Usman and two comrades were shot dead when his group encountered a unit under a commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) before noon Sunday in Guindolongan town in Maguindanao.

“Yes, Usman is dead, It’s confirmed,” a high-ranking intelligence officer told InterAsyon.com, though an official military confirmation has been withheld “pending verification on the ground.”

The MILF group that encountered Usman’s group was reportedly led by a certain Commander Marlboro under the 106th Base Command of the MILF, that in turn is led by Wahid Tundok.

The encounter happened at aroun 11:30 a.m. in Barangay Mote near Camp Afdal, according to the intelligence source.

There had been reports, since the military launched an offensive to get Usman, that the alleged bomb-maker said to have been trained by Marwan (real name: Zulkifli bin Hir) and his men were being coddled by some members of the MILF faction, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

Usman and Amin Baco alias Jihad, a Malaysian terrorist, as well as four other “foreign-looking terrorists” had eluded the tragic Special Action Force (SAF) raid of January 25 in Tukanalipao village in Mamasapano, Maguindanao, where Marwan was shot dead, but at the cost of 44 of the SAF personnel.